Andrew Garfield ‘excited’ to see new ‘Spider-Man’ film, even if he isn’t in it

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To some, Andrew Garfield will always be Spider-Man; to others, Tobey Maguire will always be Your Friendly Neighborhood Webslinger. One day, fans will think of Tom Holland as the one and only Peter Parker. But to Garfield himself, he’s just glad he got to be in the mix somewhere.

“The next one,” of course, refers not only to the currently-untitled Spidey film racing to hit theaters in 2017, but also the same Spider-Man (played by Holland) that will be glimpsed in “Captain America: Civil War.” In a headlines-grabbing switcheroo following the failures of “Amazing Spider-Man 2,” Garfield had his tights unceremoniously revoked and handed to the 19-year-old Holland.

“I was actually starting to workshop ideas with Alex Kurtzman, who was going to be writing it,” Garfield says of what he was doing when he found out his services would no longer be required. “We thought to kind of start from the base level, the foundational level of where have we left Peter and where do we want to see him go and what’s logical. And how do we build upon where we left off with this deep, desperate moment with Gwen?”

For those who don’t recall, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey was killed off in “Amazing Spider-Man 2,” a moment that would have undoubtedly shaped Peter’s mindset in the next film. But alas, Garfield’s third turn as Spider-Man would never materialize.

“We got to some pretty heavy places and I was really excited to kind of explore it and be involved on the ground level like that,” Garfield explains of what he wanted for the character. “But anyway, it wasn’t meant to be.”

Asked if he ever entered formal negotiations to return, Garfield says: “No. To be honest, all the ins and outs of what happened is a more tender conversation that maybe I don’t want to talk about in public in a press situation.”

Of course, the big hook for Spider-Man fans with the Holland films is that his Peter Parker will participate in the massive Marvel universe, interacting with Captain America and other iconic characters. Garfield says that if he had gotten his way, that would have been the plan for his movies as well.

“I’ve been petitioning to hook up with Marvel since the beginning,” he says. “So I’m really glad they’re finally doing it.”

The 32-year-old actor, who stars in the upcoming drama “99 Homes,” says these days he’s just happy to be another nerd who’ll be sitting in the theater with a tub of popcorn. “I’m just really excited that I get to watch,” says Garfield. “I’m stoked to go and watch a Marvel film of Spider-Man.”